MAGIC SONGS OF THE FINNS.
II.
xiii. The Origin of the Lizard.
(a.)
Into the sea spat Syöjätär—Lapahiitto on the waves,
The bubble moves on the sea the froth on the great open sea.
The lovely maiden Kasaritar[1] [v. Kasarikki]
Sat on a crooked birch’s bough, reposed upon an aspen branch,
She rose from the crooked bough of birch,
Keeps looking, turning her eyes towards the liquid sea.
She spied the bubble floating—the frothy spittle drifting on.
She took the bubble down her throat, into her nostrils drew the froth.
The bubble burns her in the throat, scorches her in the nostrils,
Slipt to the stomach from the throat, dropt suddenly into the womb.
The lovely girl Kasaritar thereby was filled, thereby was swelled,
Carried about a heavy womb for three whole years;
She then to an evil brood gave birth.
What was the name they gave it?
It got the name of lizard—a heap of twigs for its abode,
As a home a dry birch stump, a rotten tree stem as a house.
(b.)
Nuoramo,[2] the good house-mother,
Was stepping from stone to stone—from knoll to knoll.
From her bosom fell a pearl, a golden trinket rattled down
